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Good morning!
>I need to be clearer and have faster cues. >
With young fast dogs, yes we need to be as clear as possible but not necessarily faster – maybe earlier, but not faster because faster makes it harder to process the cues. If you are a little slower with your pace but super connected, then she will be able to process all the info better!
>It’s definitely been a huge adjustment from running with my first dog Kida who has short little legs and is square shaped (lol) to Sól who is extremely fast and bendy!>
Yes, a little different LOL!! Plus Kida has a lot more understanding as an experienced adult, so the handling will feel different for now. But you are doing GREAT!!!!
The sequences went well – I felt that you were more connected without rushing, and that really helped her keep up the bars and find the lines with no questions. YAY!!
My only suggestion is to place your blind closer to 3 and not on the straight line past 2. You can use your line of motion and position to give earlier turn cues:
Lead out almost to 2, or past 2 – but on a lateral line. You will be several steps away from 2, heading more over to 3. As you move, release and start to run so she sees you heading to 3. That will tell her before the blind that you are going to 3 and not running straight.Leading out to the landing side of 2 presents a straight line over 2 rather than a turn to 3, which makes it harder to get the turn info on time. You were definitely starting your blind earlier here which was great! You can see her thinking it is a straight line then adjusting at the last minute, so being closer to 3 will help.
A grabbed a couple of screenshots to give a visual of what I mean:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1VGWORLy6Efpbolkdxb53t7mSX2_tB3s6ny8VmZ33CEg/edit?usp=sharingGreat job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
The tunnel is 15′ in the demo videos. For a fast dog, 15 feet would be the minimum distance between jumps as long as the jumps are low (8 or 12″) which will be an excellent challenge for your timing because Saucy will be moving FAST! You can hav e higher bars at 18 or 21 feet.Tracy
Good morning!
It is good that you can make up your own course in premier FEO! That provides a lot of good training opportunities.
>I have been contemplating whether this “around” verbal many people use might be worth training for 180s and I guess they also use it for 270s perhaps? Otherwise, I use 2 directionals like “right, right” or “left, left”.
I don’t think you need ‘around’ if you have a soft turn left/right verbal. And for 270s – that would be your backside slice verbal.
>I feel like I use the directionals too much with Benni.>
It is a possibility! That reminds me, did you get my email about the lessons?
> Once I get him turning on a pinwheel, for instance, do I need to keep saying my directional for all the jumps in the pinwheel? >
You only need to keep saying them if the turn cue applies for every jump in the pinwheel. Otherwise, you can ay it to apply for the jump that needs the turn cue.
> Also, do I need to cue turns with my outside arm as well as using the verbal directional? >
This will depend entirely on the sequence you are handling, as well as if your dog needs it or not.
>I want to keep it as clear and simple for Brioche and clean up any unnecessary of bad habits that I have.>
I agree! And I would rather a young dog go really fast and maybe a little bit wide, instead of doing too many turn cues.
>I guess I don’t gauge where I should position myself for lead out pivots correctly.>
All handling should be going to the next obstacle, so the position should be somewhere along the line to get as close to the next obstacle as possible. So in the lead out pivots you can be right at 3 🙂 And running into the blind, you can be running towards 3 and not towards 2.
Tracy
Hi!
The opening all the way through the weaves looked strong both times here! You had less acceleration to 3 and a bit of a shoulder turn, so his line to 3 was tighter on the first run than it was when you ran it again.
Leaving him in the weaves then doing a FC to the DW worked nicely. You don’t need to go as deep on the DW – it put you too close to 8, so you ran parallel to the bar at 8 which made the FC line 7-8 a bit wide. You can hang back a bit to handle from the landing side of 9 which will produce a really nice line!
Or, you can keep him on your left for the dog walk: leave him in the weaves to get close to the bottom and flip him away. See if you can layer the dog walk for the 7-8-9- 10 line, which puts you in a great spot for 12 without having to rear cross it.The ultimate decision on what to do there really depends on what the best option for the RDW hit would be. He definitely was not hitting criteria on the 2nd one 🙂
> First time through I didn’t cue the second tunnel in time.>
It was not a timing thing – it was rotation on the tunnel entry, He saw the rotation as you moved away on the entry of the 10 tunnel so that cued a tight turn on the exit. A post turn there gets it done, or not letting him see the rotation (doing it after he is in the tunnel like you did at 1:12) helped too! He ran it really well the 2nd time through there.
You can add deceleration and turn verbals at :28 to tighten up the RC on 12 – you were moving fast and calling his name a lot, so he went wide. Decel plus a switch or right verbal will help tighten it up.
You were probably thinking the 13-14-15-16 line was weird LOL but that is because you flipped the backside: 14 should be the backside and 15 is a front – you had 14 as a front and 15 as a back. which made it harder, You got it done really well but I am sure you were thinking it was an icky line LOL! And the ending after the final tunnel was strong, lots of independent commitment.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
I think cancelling the trial was the right choice – even a ‘yellow’ code on the air quality is not a good agility scenario.
Kaladin’s video;
First run – the switch after the poles worked great and got you MILES ahead for the next line!
Based on how this was set, I think exiting the backside as a spin (:17) to get him on your left side will set a shorter faster line than exiting as a FC with him on your right and pushing to the last 2 jumps.You can apply a similar strategy to see if you can get even more speed on the opening of popout 2: send him to 1 on your left then keep him on your left for 2 as you blast up the line to get a BC 2-3 🙂 It will be challenging but I think it will be faster than pushing him away from your right (plus he loves it when you barely make it to blinds LOL)
The rest went great! Yay!
Pop out 3 –
he kind of saved you on the threadle slice at 1:02 when you stepped towards it really early and almost pushed him back to the other side of the jump. Much smoother at 1:20. And the rest went great – he really liked it when you got urgent with the OUT JUMP for the layering and driving him harder after that – a whole new gear of speed!>alternate plan for #5 too.>
I timed the difference between the threadle slice and the push to the backside – the push to the backside was 3/10s faster just on that section. It required more scramble and urgency from you. which always gets him pumped up 🙂
>These weaves were a bit above her pay grade – I think I’d done a flip away (switch) maybe once or twice with her months ago>
I thought she was brilliant finding the entry with the discrimination jump out there, and a gold star for flipping away even if she didn’t fully find the jump! Yay! You gave bigger cues at :29 and she found the jump: SUPER!
The ending line went really well too – you easily got the backside and the push away to the last jump. As with Kaladin, I bet a spin on the backside to get her on your left will be even faster.> And the entry off the layered jump was also new.>
That was hard too – nice job breaking it down a bit. You can show it to her with you standing in threadle position, same as if it was on a jump.
She had a small mad at 1:33 when you sent to the backside but then started running backwards (total lack of caffeine moment LOL) She recovered well, though 🙂
Pushing to the backside at 1:47 worked well even with a moment of forgetting where to go – you were very quick to push to it then get past the ending wing, and she drove really well on the last line even if you were making stuff up because the caffeine drought was making things hard 🙂Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
This went really well – Fusion is finding her lines really well and with a ton of speed, and you are connected and staying in motion really well!
Nice blind in the opening (2-3),- I bet you can start it even sooner, as soon as she exits 1 and looks at 2)
To get a tighter turn 4-5, call her before she enters the tunnel (2 meters before) and let her see you rotate before she enters the tunnel.
Nice job driving the line 5-6-7-8-9! You were blocking the wing at 10 which pushed her away to 1 (:17).
The ending line was tricky, especially because you had 16 set up as a backside and it should be the obvious front side after 15. The first run had a late cue on 14 at :36 – trying to get into position after she landed almostt got jump 16 insteadof 15 but having to stay there that long got the back jump.
You were earlier with the cues at 1:25 and she was much tighter there – you don’t need to rotate your feet as much to bring her in, it would be fun to try it as a serpentine: you feet keep going to the line towards 16 while the upper body cues her to come in and take 15.
Getting to the takeoff side there got it tighter for sure – sending away to 12 then getting 13 while staying in motion will get you there even sooner 🙂Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>I’m trying to leave it in the pocket more…but that habit is taking some time to learn. I probably should also try to carry it in my hand – to proof against it.>
Both! That way you are both comfy with all sorts of new different approaches to reinforcement.
He did well with the back and forth pattern game here! You can see him assessing the environment then returning his engagement to you faster and faster. Super! You can add walking back and forth as well here, he seems ready for it.
The up and down game on the 2nd video was even faster, in terms of him re-engaging! There was a distracting noise in the background (a fan or something?) but he was able to tune it out. Yay!
You can move to a different spot, as well as add little distractions in the environment. I like to add the leash in these early stages, so when you take it all on the road the leash doesn’t become a huge distraction or challenge in terms of needing 3 hands 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
Donna’s shirt cracked me up here!The sequences well really well 🙂
Sequence 1: You can line her up and even use more of a stay & lead out at 1. If she is facing you and then you surprise her with a send, you might get he wrong side like on rep 1 🙂
You had really good position by 4 for the FC! You can start the FC sooner: when she has exited the tunnel and is looking at 3, you can begin the FC rather than waiting for her to get closer to 3. You can also play with running into the blind cross here too. The ending line looked lovely!
Sequence 2:
Great lead out position on 2 – did you drop a cookie or did she think you dropped one on the first rep? Maybe it was because you stood there for a bit too long?
You moved sooner at 1:55 which helped her find the line – but then you disconnected and pointed forward, which sent her past 3 to the threadle wrap 🙂 Fancy! At 2:52 you disconnected to point forward to 3, but also pointed your feet to the center of the bar, so she read it as a rear cross 🙂I love how Donna asked if that was what you wanted, because that is what it looked like: great job continuing so that Bella didn’t get worried about it! The ending looked great.
Think of the 2-3 line as a serpentine: keep your arm back and your eyes on her eyes as you move to the exit wing of 3, and she will find the line really well. Don’t release the arm cue or the eye contact til you are very sure she has the correct line at 3.
Sequence 3:
I loved your blind here 3-4 at 3:34! Perfect! Yay for the RC too at 4:16 – that is harder and you executed it clearly so she could find the line well.
Overall, you can be less careful on these sequences 🙂 You were connected for 99% of it and she is committing really well, so you can drive her harder and run faster 🙂 You were being careful so she was being careful. Get wild! That might create some bloopers but no worries, she will get to feeling the wind in her hair. If she is being careful because there is all this handling and the bars are taller, you can run her at 12″ for a bit as you two add the newer skills.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
The FC went well! I think the main thing is to start it a lot sooner 🙂 Ideally, when he exits the tunnel, you will be up by 3 and and ready to decelerate into the FC. At :03 and :18, you started it as he took off for 3 so he was wide (and that made it hard to keep the bar up at :04).
And the way to get up to 3 sooner is to not start as close to 1 with him (he is too fast for that 🙂 ) Either send to 1 from further away, or having him stay facing 1 and see if he can take it with you leading out a bit further up the course – a very useful skill!
The BC at :33 is able to be finished earlier because there is no foot rotation but this can also start sooner (see below for the timing of your BCs on sequence 2 :))
Showing the exit line connection at :40 helped a lot! Yay! The more you show that to him, the easier it is for him to find the next line.
Sequence 2:
The lead out push is basically a serpentine, so you can be further across the bar at 2 so he can see the serp line more as he lands from 1. You were going straight as he was committing to 2 so he had a Big Mad as you mentioned at :46 when you pushed in. So you can lead out a little further and be halfway across jump 2 with a serp arm back and big connection, as he lands from 1. I think he will read it really well!You had absolutely great timing of the blind at :54 and 1:03- he was jumping the turn side of the wing and found 3 well! The last blind cross timing was not quite as perfect as the previous 2 reps but still really timely, so he read it well and that set up a lovely turn to 3! Super! This is the timing you will want on the FC or BC on sequence 1: as he exits the #2 tunnel on that sequence, you can be up by 3 and beginning the cross.
The ending line of both sequences looked lovely: connected and fast!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! Glad you have good weather! His sequencing is going really well.
Sequence 1:
He sent to jump 1 really well. You can also try a sit at jump 1 and see if you can lead out more, to get further up the line. This opening is getting more and more popular in AKC lately.You can blind cross even sooner at 3 🙂 Be more connected to him as he exits the tunnel – when he exits the tunnel, that is the timing to start the blind. For some reason at :05 you extended your left arm and disconnected, so he almost changed sides at the tunnel exit. No need for extended arms here, you can just run with low or bent arms 🙂
He was really paying attention to the handling you had too much decel and shoulder turn on 4, good boy to follow the line at :08!!!
The FC on 3 at :32 was well-timed, and nice and tight. Lovely!
I don’t think he needs an arm up on the 5-6-7-8 line – just connect and run run run. That will show him the line even better and get you up the line even faster.
Sequence 2:
A lead out push is basically a serp, so you need the same arm back and direct connection to cue the line.
On the first run, you were looking forward and running forward at 2, so at :54 he was jumping the center of the bar at 2, not knowing you wanted the line to 3. He tried to save it at :56 but could not.You had better connection at 2 at 1:22 but then you looked forward so he had a slightly wide line but found 3. Ideally, keep the connection and keep moving to 3 so he can land from 2 already looking at 3.
Lead out pivot: he found 3 well at 1:52. Your ideal position would be right at 3 – you were on a straight line past 2, so he jumped straight over 2. He read the FC really well but being closer to 3 will get an even faster line from 2-3.
>Official UKI measurement is 15″ so he can jump 12″ (or 8″S) in UKI. This was also the temp measurement for AKC as the official is a VMO for both.>
Great!!
>He does better with the set point than when he has to adjust his striding as the 12″ jump moves further and further away. Should I continue to do this every few days until he looks smooth at all distances before trying 12″ in his novice class?>
It is normal that trying to adjust the striding is harder than seeing the new height in a set point. So yes, keep working on it and also yes – don’t put the height up to 12″ in his class yet. What you can do in class is chose a jump on an easy line and put it at 12″, just to start introducing it. Then add more and more over the course of a few weeks. It sounds like you already started a bit of this and it went really well!
>Also, maybe in September since trials are opening already, I was thinking of trying FEO with him in AKC. But it would have to be novice JWW or premiere JWW since he does not have contacts now. There isn’t much UKI around. Of course the one that is in NJ in Sept is on a weekend I will be doing AKC.>
Yes, for sure FEO in JWW! I think he will be ready for that. Premier is often a weird course design, so only enter it FEO is the judge will let you make up your own course so you don’t need to do anything weird with him 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Last week was just brutal for heat and smoke! It looks like you have blue skies again and hopefully it is not too hot 🙂
>We are struggling with bar knocking. She was jumping 10 in a few of the parts and 8. I know at some points it’s my fault when she knocks, but I feel like there are other times where it’s just her? >
The bars here were all handling – she is learning the handling and things need to be super clear and timely. The youngsters rely on us for all the info!
And if the cues were not timely or disconnected, she ticked or knocked a bar. Getting the turn cues earlier will help, and staying connected and not running as fast on the bigger lines will help too.>She has really been only jump 8. Should I start doing some jumping exercises?>
Yes – since she is sequencing, 2 things should become a regular part of life: jump exercises & conditioning, and body work (massage and chiro). How old is she now? You can start to revisit the jump grids she knows, like the set point and the accordion grid, and add some height to gradually work up to taller bars.
On the sequence 1 video:
She is holding her stay really well! You can start her further back from jump 1 so she has a powerful stride or two before takeoff. Right now she is clearing the 8″ bar, but will need at least 4 or 5 meters when the bar gets higher. And before the release, stop to look at her, praise for a few seconds so she can think about the line… then release. If it is a lead out then you suddenly reconnect and release, she doesn’t have time to size up the jump before exploding forward. And leading out a little more will get you further ahead for the cross at 3, which will make the timing and jumping easier.
For the crosses on jump 3: that was a hard bar for her, she was either ticking or dropping it on a lot of the reps. You can connect very directly back to the tunnel exit so you can see the timing of starting the FC: when she exits the tunnel, you should start to decel into it so the turn is finished before takeoff for 3. I think you could see her somewhat peripherally, but if you are looking at the 3 jump (:05, :35, :52,1:07) then you will be late starting the FC (ticked the bar at :06, dropped the bar at :36.) The FCs were in progress while she is jumping 3, when ideally they would be finished by then. The FC finished sooner at :53, so she jumped 3 well! You can give her more connection directly back to her as you finish the FC as well.
The BC 3-4 also works really well and is easier to finish on time 🙂 but be connected more – she was chasing your line because you were looking ahead and not at her. Without the connection, she was not able to find the new side at :23, and ticked the bar at 1:07. Eye contact is key, especially with young dogs 🙂
The other place to be super connected is the ending line back to the tunnel. You were looking a bit forward at the jump before the tunnel (:12) so she touched it. Really nice connection on the ending line at 1:00 amd 1:14! No bar touching there!
The other place she hit bars was when you stopped at :26 and :41 – slowing down and throwing the toy was why she dropped the bar there, so keep moving and when she has landed – then throw the toy 🙂
Sequence 2:
Lead out more to be able to start the BC sooner. Don’t go as close to 2 as that makes her think it is a straight line over 2 (she jumped the center of the bar there)
You started it at liftoff to 2 at :05 & :16 & :26 & :36 & :47)Great connection on the exit of the blinds, but because the BC was late, the turn cues were late (especially the decel) so, she had trouble setting up the jumping at 3: ticked the bar at :06, dropped it at :18 & :28 & :49
You got the decel in on time at :37 and she jumped really well at :38!So to make all the cues earlier: lead out a bit further but also, your running line should be towards 3 and not towards 2. That automatically gives into that it is a turn to 3. Then, as she is landing from 1, the BC gets underway so it is finished before she takes off for 2. That timing plus the connection you had will allow you to start to decelerate for the wrap at 3 as she is landing from 2, making it very timely.
The bar at :39 is an example of where you can be more connected – acceleration plus closing the shoulder caused her to rush a little. You were really connected and not accelerating as much on the last run and it looked lovely!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
The teeters looked good here during the warm up – be sure to run more, because walking past them it a bit too easy at this point 🙂
Threadles – good job NOT rotating your feet! Be sure to show the threadle cues sooner: ideally the threadle arm is up and visible multiple steps before the release. If you release AND show the threadle at the same time, the threadle is now late. Walk through to the start position with the threadle arm already visible so when you release, the cue is timely. And be sure he is not releasing on the reconnection and arm movement like at :42 🙂
What was that thing on the ground? Looks like a wig I wore on Halloween once LOL
It was DEFINITELY challenging for him on the threadles!! But he worked through it really well – super!!! For the reward placement, you will get a better jumping effort is there is a reward on the ground (or even a target so he knows where to look for the reward). He is jumping with his head up and spine inverted, so a reward that is lower and not coming from you will help adjust that head position.
The object in the teeter session was not as interesting, so you can use something more exciting along with more running from you 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning! Hope you had a lovely vacation!!!
> I was surprised on the first double whammy by your use of the “off arm” send to the tunnel at both 8 and 5. It didn’t seem necessary.>
I was watching his head and body there – he glanced at me and was turning harder to his left, considering the jump. And since I really did not want to have the error, I used the off arm to make it very clear that he needed to stay out ot the tunnel, even if meant shifting back to his right lead to get it. It was a ‘know your dog’ moment for sure, because when he turns his head
> I also was surprised by your use of the threadle “in” on #6; I kind of thought I would go between 5 and 6 and use a backside send.>
It was super easy to get there and then send to the next jump, while getting me way ahead for the backside on the last jump. Super easy and gets me ahead? Yes please! LOL!
Staying on the landing side requires more running, a more complex push timing, AND having to get across the bar and using countermotion to show the line to 7 (more on that below). Too much work for not enough benefit on course.
And being on the takeoff side allows me to layer to the last jump = Being between 6 and the tunnel almost sent him off course to 1 on the way to 9 on the first run, and did get the off course at 1:04.
>. At 8:41 and analogous places, it appears to me that you could have started/completed the BC a bit sooner>
A tiny bit late at 8:41, it was better timed on the single whammy. But in the interest of video demo: the goal here is not to worry about perfection, the goal here is to keep going and get it done even if there is a late cue or wide line. In training, people stop and re-start to try to make it perfect but that is not the reality of agility 🙂 The runs here were the only runs I did 🙂
> On the single whammy, my question is how to go around #5 (slice or wrap) and the same question on #1 on the double whammy. My plan is to wait until it is built to decide.
> Definitely a tight turn on 5, so a wrap.
> I don’t know if all the bars are from 2 weeks off or failure of 2 weeks on (with jumping exercises and grids and such) or just poor handling. >
Having watched the video, it was handling questions. See below.
>I ran it with Enzo first, hoping to smooth out my handling but I’m not sure if that helps – except for remembering the course. They don’t run very similarly.>
The don’t run similarly, so while it is OK to run Enzo first it is not necessarily a good prep for Casper (like with the serps). But it is good to alternate them in training to make the handling adjustments, because they run the same courses at trials.
Looking at Casper’s runs::
Seq 1:
For the threadle ar 3, you were doing big rotations to pull him in, so that looked like a FC to 6. Then when you rotated again to send him back out to 3, he didn’t have enough time to set up the jumping on 3 and also on 4 on the first run (:08). Ideally the threadle slice like this does not have foot rotation at all – lower body continues forward and upper body pulls the arm back to show the threadle cue. He got better at clearing the bar on 3 as he learned the sequence and also as your rotations got smaller – but the first 2 runs (:08 and :24) were the most informative.
For the backside on 6 – he was getting to the backside nicely but then the info stopped about where to go next. It needs to have serp arm and countermotion past the exit wing. You were a little disconencted (and almsot pulling back towards the tunnel) and staying in the landing spot, so he kepy landing on the bar to avoid hitting you.
Moving through it as it is a German turn without a blind cross will smooth all of that out nicely and he will keep the bar up because he knows where he is going next. That will also set up the turn on 7 – there was a lot of confusion there because you had stopped moving and he did not know exactly where to go.
Sequence 2:
>Looks like a straightforward set of serps.>Yes, very serpy, they are all the rage right now 🙂 – but be sure to show big, clear serp cues: serp arm back as your feet move forward so he can see the compound cue of come in, go out. What was happening on the serp errors here was either there was no serp arm happening, or it happened after takeoff so he landed then turned (like at 2:23 & 2:33)
Part of the reason I think you were not giving clear serp arm cues to Casper was that Enzo was able to serp without the clear upper body cues, because he approaches those lines differently (in sequence 3) – when y uare close to a serp line, he will slow down to land next to you and wait for more info… Casper will not do this and jumps towards you looking for more info. So Casper definitely needs clear serp arm cues. Also, Enzo was not moving as fast as Casper here so you were able to use your motion along the line ahead of him to get the serps.
A serp arm at 1-2 will help a lot: at 2:20 for example your upper body was not serping and he jumped directly at you – the send to 2 was late (bar down)
At 1:43 there was no serp arm so he came directly towards you. The serp arm happened a bit as he was over the bar at 1:44 but he was already jumping towards you and dropped the bar as he tried to adjust. Ideally the serp arm starts as he exits 2 so he can adjust the jumping for 3-4, and the serp arms stays up til he lands from 3 and looks at 4.
> I thought the FC worked better for us at 5, especially as it made it easier to control the turn 5 to 6.>
The FC is a good option here for sure! But be sure to finish the FC immediately without back up at all: running backwards at 2:07 and 2:27 and 2:42 widened the line even with the FC there. That is why I did a blind there: easier to complete the rotation without backing up and accidentally widening the line. The ‘easy’ cue can help with collection when you gave it earlier (it was late on the first one, coming at takeoff, so he dropped the bar trying to adjust). It is a good spot to deliver the easy and since you are rotated towards him for that, finish it with a spin. The spin faces you to the next direction nicely, while opening up for a post turn widens the line a bit.
> I was surprised that I had trouble getting him to come in at #8 >
He needed serp cues 🙂 You had a closed shoulder and no serp arm at 1:54, so he layered. You had a clearer serp at 2:14 so he got it.
>It was hot and I really didn’t want a bunch of reps with dropped bars, so I subbed in Enzo. It wasn’t a brilliant marvel but it went pretty well.>
Yes, it was good to let Enzo have a turn – Caspe was really gassed out in the last double whammy, slowing down with lots of extra strides – if each double whammy is 18 obstacles, then the singles plus the doubles were basically the equivalent of 6 or 7 full courses in a short time span.
Enzo’s first run went smoothly – pushing to the slice backside of 5 made sense here because the tunnel exit was pointing that way more. Getting all the way there like at 3:28 & 3:55 puts you pretty far behind on the next line though – send to it without having to get past the entry wing. When you did it in flow of the double whammy at 4:13, he did not need you all the way up there so that is good to know!
> we had a short review session on “FLIP” (threadle wrap) >
On the first double whammy, you were too quick to release it: at 3:35 he was still behind you when you send him back out, so he took the front, You will want to have your connection and hands visible to him until he is closer to you and definitely on the threadle line. The timing was better at 4:04 but ideally he sends himself back out so you don’t have to time the cue to go back out – all you need to do is hold the cue til he sends himself back out (more on that in games package 4).
Nice job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi! These are going really well!
The main thing here is connection – your eyes to his eyes 🙂 When you were connected, he was able to find the lines brilliantly AND go fast 🙂
On pop out 2, at :20 and :40, he needed more direct connection to go to the backside after the threadle wrap. When you did that at :52 and 1:01 on the home field? Lovely! And that made the blind easier and the next line smoother too. Yay! And you were able to get the blind. If you have a connection blooper and it is not perfect or something goes wrong: no worries… keep going and then reward him on the next line. That will keep him going fast – if you stop and turn away from him, he slows himself down to try to be more accurate.
> I thought I could have had a little more connection.>
>Pop out 6 slow out of tunnel 1, but faster out of tunnel 6 and 10.>I agree, on both of these there can be more connection in spots and then you will see more speed. A fun challenge is to try to handle without pointing with your arms – just let them move naturally as a runner rather than use them to show the line. When you are trying to show the line with your arms & hands, it actually blocks connection a bit.
When the line of motion makes the line somewhat obvious, he gets it really well and doesn’t lose much speed, like at 1:03-1:08 on pop out 5. Your arms were trying to point to the line and obstacles but he was behind you and needed to see the connection (you can see he was on a bit of a zig zag line to figure it out). He got it nicely but I bet with more eye contact he will be even faster 🙂 When arms are pointing ahead and he doesn’t see your eyes/upper body as clearly, he is relying on your motion so he adds strides to make sure he gets it right.
The slowing down you noticed was when motion alone didn’t fully show the line on more complicated sequences:
When you used your arms less (1:14-1:19) and had more connection, so he was smoother and faster with finding the line. Yay! Love it!
From 1:20-1:25, your arms were showing the line and he slowed down a bit to find the line.
On the more complicated sequences (like 1:38 – 1:55 on the next pop out) he slowed himself down to be sure he got it right, because motion alone doesn’t cue the lines.It will feel weird to try to run without your arms up high – ideally your fingers are pointed to his nose at all times when he is behind you, so you can look at his eyes and he can see your eyes. That lines up the shoulders to the line, so he will know where to go without waiting for more info. When you get used to running with the low arms and big connection, it gets really easy to show all the lines at top speed 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>We were at Canine Sports Zone this weekend for a trial (looks like we are just missing you!). >
Yes! I start driving there tomorrow. Sorry to have missed you! They have all of those smaller areas which help us train the young dogs.
> We did back and forth and up and down. He started slightly slower with the reconnection to me, but then got into a groove and was offering eye contact quickly. We did a little moving back and forth too.>
Fabulous – starting only slightly slower then getting back to normal is great. Sounds like he was able to handle the environment really well.
> We used those for ring entry, leash off and party, then exit and repeat. He gave very good attention as soon as we entered, so I also took a couple of steps and the we sort of set up in from of a jump. That all went really well.>
This is all EXCELLENT!! Yay Judge!
>We also did some stationing on their podium. Not part of class, but part of his life skills program – watch things go by and be neutral about them.>
This type of stationing is great for a Malinois 🙂 Observe the world as you are bred to do, but stay chill, sir!
> Also did some measuring practice with the wicket (he does not care when I do it or when Terry does it). I may need to work on “strangers” – he’s generally neutral with people, but they don’t usually touch him. >
I think he would only need to be measured for AKC? I think UKI will not need a measure? But I will have to double check that?
>After tomorrow, the heat is supposed to break for a few days, so hope to get to the sequencing homework!>
Great news about a break in the heat! July has been brutal, but that seems to be the new normal. Thanks for keeping me posted!
Tracy
